Golf club shafts were historically made by turning lengths of wood on a lathe to form a tapered shaft with a round cross-section. But the wood was heavy and of variable stiffness, resulting in inconsistent performance and lower velocity at the golf club head. The wooden shafts were replaced with various tubular metal shafts such as steel and titanium which provided more consistent stiffness control and that, because of the lighter weight, provided a higher velocity at the golf club head. The metal shafts are now being replaced by tubular, composite matrix shafts which allow and even lighter and stiffer shaft than those made of metal. These matrix shafts are typically formed of a graphite epoxy matrix created either by winding a plurality of graphite strands, preferably in the form of unidirectional, pre-impregnated fiber tape in predetermined patterns around a tapered steel mandrel as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,157,181, or by, or by taking a sheet of previously laid-up strands and wrapping pre-cut segments around the tapered mandrel as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,023,801. The strands can be varied in size, spacing, material and orientation in order to vary the stiffness of the resulting tapered shaft. In both manufacturing methods, the graphite strands and mandrel are placed in an autoclave where high temperature and pressure bond the graphite and epoxy, or shrink-wrap plastic is placed around the mandrel and composite matrix and the assembly is baked in an oven to cure the matrix. The mandrel is then removed leaving a light, tubular shaft with a thin cross-section that is circular both outside and inside.
While the matrix composite is lighter than wood and metal, it has a uniform stiffness that does not vary in the radial direction.